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Sunday, 8 June 2014

BETTER LIVING | It goes beyond the hashtag

This piece was written by Amaka Ezekwere (ukamakdon@gmail.com)

Everyone is indeed doing their best by lending their voices in whatever way they can to see that 'our girls' are brought back. As much as I understand what it means to be a parent, I also know and can explain the joys and pains of motherhood. The parents of these children are indeed going through pain but their mothers feels the major pain. Why? You may ask, that is because, they carried them for 9months, they went through the labor pain, they gave that child her bath, they breast fed that child, she knows when the child is sick and so many other reasons that will make every mother educated or not to to agree with me that their mothers are bearing the major pain. Don't get it twisted fathers are wonderful when it comes to security of their children.

To everyone who has been carrying the #hashtag#, I say you are indeed doing a great job by lending your own voice, to the international bodies, thanks for your heart warming concern. It could have happened to any of us or our relations! #God forbid# someone will say. Truth be told nobody wishes for evil or painful experience. Today I say to every concerned individual that truly it goes beyond carrying the written word on the card, protesting on the streets, posting comments on social media, it really goes beyond granting interview on television stations. It is not time to start blaming the president or any leader. It is equally not time to make mockery of the first lady's vocabularies or make shirts with them. It is time to make a permanent and positive change. In fact I'm beginning to get irritated with the way some people are using this situation to create some cheap publicity stunt.

I intend to lend my voice on a different platform, which is to say that we should go beyond the tag and start working on how to protect children, girls and women permanently. We started showing what I call semi- maximum concern because girls were kidnapped. When they are found, everyone including me, says a general ' thank God' and that ends it. Who then will care about helping them come out of their psychological trauma? Who helps them lead a normal life? Who makes them understand that being a woman is not bad, but being a slave is terrible? Who helps erase the memories of their tortures and give them sweet memories that is filled with sparkles of a bright future? Who will tell them that their father land is not a ' horror zone', but the greed in the heart of many is not letting them embrace peace? Who will tell them that education, security and freedom is their right.

As we begin to find answers to all these questions and so many other ones, I challenge us this day to lend our voices for every girl child that is being ill treated, lend your voices for that little girl being given out in marriage (child bride) ,lend your voices for that girl that has been raped and cannot speak out because of fear or Shame, for those women that has been and are victims of domestic violence, to those girls or ladies being abused in their places of work, to the ones being sexually harassed, to the girl's being threatened by lecturers to give in their bodies before they can pass their exams in the universities, to those widows being harassed by greedy in laws or being accused that she has a hand in her husband death, I say lend your voices and see why it must go beyond carrying of tags and protesting on the streets.

Stand up for a girl child today and make a woman's future prosper. We all have roles to play, give your house help right to education, don't bully your female sisters, love your wives and correct in love, give the right grade without demanding a female students body, see that girl you intend to rape as own sister or daughter, give a woman a chance to proof her worth through hard work. Encourage a woman today by strongly supporting and encouraging them. It truly goes beyond the # bring back our girls# tag

Kudos Amaka for this wonderful piece. " A man who does not know where the rain began to beat him cannot say where he dried his body". Indeed this whole scenario orchestrated by the kidnapping of the chibok girl goes beyond the hash tag. It bring to the fore on one hand the travails if the African woman from a tender age and then the political inclination of a select group of people that think that the political will of this nation Nigeria is their exclusive reserve It is no doubt that some of this girls will come home severely battered and bruised psychologically, some will come home pregnant and some will never return. These are facts and we need to face it. Why is nobody doing anything to effect their rescue. The saddest part of the whole thing is how this chibok saga has been turned into a celebrity stunt whereby if you have not carried the placard with the inscription #bringbackourgirls then you are not trendy. My question still remains amidst the politicking and the the now obvious inability of the military to bring our girls back, how then do we bring our girls back. What is the way forward? Let us not forget that it could have us or our dearly beloved.